Captain Higuchi, in the Midst of the Attack, Personally Holds a Lost Chinese Child (Higuchi taii shingeki no toji mizukara Seishi no ishi o hôji suru no zu)

This triptych-format war print depicts one of the most celebrated acts of mercy reported during the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–95). Captain Higuchi Shotaro, a Japanese officer during the Battle of Pyongyang, encountered a lost Chinese child separated from their family in the chaos of combat and carried the child to safety. Gekko rendered the scene to emphasize the humanity of the Japanese soldier amid the violence of the engagement — a common editorial strategy in Meiji-era sensō-e (war prints), which served simultaneously as journalism and patriotic propaganda. The composition likely positions Higuchi in full military uniform against a turbulent background of smoke, falling soldiers, or fortifications, the child's vulnerability contrasting with the surrounding chaos. Gekko's war prints were among the most widely reproduced of the conflict, and he employed bold bokashi gradations and strong diagonal compositions to convey kinetic energy. The subject gave publishers a morally redemptive counterpoint to straightforward battle imagery, and prints depicting this episode were issued by multiple publishers throughout the war.